Longtime readers may remember way back when we had a monthly event we called the GC: Exchange. It was a monthly event, held in a different neighborhood each month, with a short presentation, and many drinks and discussion. That all became too much work for us to pull off every month, so we stopped.

Now we’re bringing it back, kind of, with a simple monthly time to meet and mingle and drink and discuss urban issues throughout the region. Our first Urbanist Drinks will be next week, Tuesday the 7th starting at 5:30pm at The Eddy, 95 Eddy Street Downcity.

I know a lot of people want to talk about the Streetcar proposal which the Mayor has expressed renewed support for. I imagine there’ll be talk about Kennedy Plaza, the Superman Building, biking, and more. Come on down, grab a drink, and join the conversation.

Our special guest will be Patrick Ward from Citizens for Resident Permit Parking. Patrick has been doing a lot of work on the issue of the lack of overnight parking in Providence and how it is negatively impacting our urban environment. Visit his website for more information.

Our next Greater City: Exchange meeting will take place next Tuesday, July 10th starting at 5:30pm at Spats Restaurant. Spats is located at 182 Angell Street (near the corner of Thayer), we will be meeting on the lower level.

At the meeting, representatives from the Brown Bookstore will be joining us to talk about their plans for the upcoming renovation of the store. I’m sure there will also be much talk about the evolving nature of the retail experience on Thayer Street. As always, there will be plenty of time to mingle and enjoy drinks and discussion with other people.

We hope to see you there!

RIPTA: Routes 35, 40, 42, 49, 78, and 92 Green Line to the top of the Hope Tunnel.

At the GC: Exchange we will be viewing a presentation and having a discussion on the Transit 2020 Report. We’ll also be enjoying drinks, eats, and will have plenty of time to meet and speak with others.

If you were planning on attending the CPC Meeting Tuesday at Meeting Street School, unplan because it has be postponed. We’re all happy it’s been postponed, because now we all get to go!

Also, mark your calendars for our June GC: Exchange. On Tuesday, June 12th we’ll be meeting at Ada’s Creations, 1137 Broad Street in Elmwood. In June, we’ll be hearing from members of the Greater Elmwood Neighborhood Services about the work they do in the Elmwood area. Visit our website for updates and more details on the June GC: Exchange.

Please join us for open discussion about the city. Hors d’Ã…â€œuvres will be provided by Jewel. Our special guest will be Garry Bliss, Director of Policy and Legislative Affairs for the City of Providence. Garry will be presenting information about the findings of the Transit 2020 working group. After the presentation we will have time to discuss issues related to transit in Rhode Island.

Tuesday night we held our third GC: Exchange meeting at MoJoe’s Bar & Grill on Broadway. The evening was very informative and (I hope) a lot of fun for everyone there.

I’d like to thank our special guests for attending and sharing their work with us.

First up were Baruch Sachs and Cynthia Langlykke from the West Broadway Neighborhood Association. Baruch and Cynthia told us the history of the WBNA, got us all up to speed on their current work, and discussed some of their plans and wishes for the future. You can download the handout they had here.

Also be sure to visit the WBNA website for more info on the upcoming Armory Open, taking place May 11th at the Cranston Street Armory.

We also had Stephanie Federico and Pleshette Mitchell from City Hall come to talk about the Mayor’s Graffiti Task Force. The Task Force is preparing to announce people who have won the $500 reward for information leading to an arrest. Through the spring the Task Force will be catching up on the graffiti that has been piling up over the winter. In the summer neighborhood watch programs will be implemented throughout the city. We look forward to seeing the city continue to attack the graffiti problem and seeing how the community can become more involved. We’ll be talking more with Stephanie and Pleshette in the coming months and will be posting more information here.

In addition to thanking our guest speakers, I’d also like to thank MoJoe’s for hosting us, and of course thank everyone who came. We had some great questions for our guest speakers and some great discussion over good food (mmmm Doughboys…) and drink.

The next GC: Exchange will be on Tuesday, May 8th (as always the 2nd Tuesday of the month) where we will be discussing the Transit 2020 report. Check back here for the time and location of this and future meetings, or sign up for our newsletter to receive our latest news.

The next Greater City: Exchange will be Tuesday, April 10th starting at 5:30pm at MoJoe’s Bar & Grill, 166 Broadway at Dean Street on Federal Hill.

Please join us for open discussion about the city. Our special guests will be members of the West Broadway Neighborhood Association speaking about their group, the work they do, and the challenges they face. This is a great opportunity to come out and hear about the WBNAs work and to exchange ideas.

The May GC: Exchange will be held on Tuesday, May 8th, where we plan to have Garry Bliss make a presentation on the Transit 2020 Initiative.

For exact times and locations of upcoming GC: Exchanges please visit our website or sign up for our Newsletter.

UPDATE: Representatives from the Mayor’s Office will be joining us at the April 10th GC: Exchange to discuss the Mayor’s Graffiti Taskforce. Come find out how the Taskforce has been progressing, the successes, the challenges, and how members of the community can get involved.

A big thank you to everyone who came to The GCP’s February 27th Launch meeting and helped make it a smashing success. We enjoyed meeting everyone and had a fantastic turnout, packing Jewel’s space. Each person who attended commented afterwards on the energy and enthusiasm they felt in the room as everyone discussed their favorite aspects of the city.

Most importantly, everyone who attended saw that GC:PVD is for real and came away knowing the following:

Who we are (urban enthusiasts of all backgrounds and neighborhoods who care about Providence)

What we want (for Providence to continue to develop to become one of America’s true urban gems)

What we stand for (development in an urban pattern of the city’s transporation, zoning, and public spaces)

What we are going to do (launch a variety of initiatives, educational programs, and collaborations)

Look out over the next couple weeks for the GCP’s inaugural newsletter and for more information on our initiatives and how you can become involved.

Also, you can always drop in on our monthly Greater City: Exchanges that will take place around the city on the second Tuesday of every month. During the Exchanges, there will be open, social discussion over food and drinks about urban issues around Providence as well as some formal GC:PVD business. If you know anyone who would be interested in attending, please bring them along or forward the invite to them.

Last night’s Launch event went great. We would like to thank everyone that came and commend Jewel on doing a fantastic job of making us all feel welcome. There was absolutely no shortage of great conversation and there was a general sense of optimism in the crowd. In the coming months we’ll be focusing directly on specific topics and getting a lot of brainstorming done. We look forward to the Greater City: Exchanges being a catalyst for great things in the city.

The goal of the Greater City Exchange is to gather together people from across the city and around the region to exchange ideas, information, resources, and passion for the city. There are plenty of organizations and plenty of people out there championing the city and working hard on specific projects. The Greater City Exchange gives us urban minded individuals a chance to gather together and discuss what we’re working on individually and the challenges we are facing in our own corners of the city. By setting a time and place to exchange ideas we can come up with new solutions and combine resources to work together on initiatives that work to improve the entire city.

The Launch of the Greater City Exchange will take place Tuesday, February 27th starting at 5:30pm at Jewel Cafe & Lounge in the Jewelry District. Jewel is located at 15 Elbow Street (some may recall this as the former location of The Call) between Chestnut and Ship Streets.

The event starts at 5:30pm with a short (very short) presentation about Greater City: Providence at 6:30pm. Hang out through the evening for more drinks, conversation, and live music. The Greater City Exchange will continue monthly on the second Tuesday of every month, starting March 13th. We’ll have more information on the location of the March 13th Greater City Exchange coming soon.